February 04, 2005

Privatization Calculator

This is the first draft of a calculator I wrote to figure out the APY private accounts would need to make up for cut benefits.

Accuracy not guaranteed at this point. :) But I include my methodology so I can incorporate corrections if anyone has some.

Basically, all you have to do is put in the percentage amount of your payroll taxes that you expect will be privatized.

Be careful, because even though they say that you can put up to 33% away, there's a $1,000 cap per year. And, this is the percentage of your all-time payroll contributions, not just from privatization day forward. So you'll have to figure your age into it. Just guesstimate.

Enter a number between 1 and 100.

Yes, this is a complicated thing, but the end result is simple. You will be able to say, "Wait a hold it! So, in order for Bush's plan to give me what I'm going to get now, you're saying my private account would have to grow at (whatever) percent?! That's impossible! This is a raw deal!"